Instagram CEO Denies Company Copied Snapchat, Says They Were 'Building Upon the Technology'

For some time now, Instagram has been accused of stealing ideas from Snapchat. Now, the social media company’s CEO has broken his silence to put a stop to all the talk.

One of the glaring copying offenses that Instagram has been accused of concerns its Stories feature, which is reportedly a virtual reproduction of Snapchat’s own version. It’s a new feature introduced last year, which allows users to post photos or videos that will be expunged forever after just 24 hours.

However, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom said in an interview that, while there are similarities, it certainly “doesn’t mean that you’re copying.” He insisted that what they are doing instead is “building upon the technology” that Snapchat started.

#Instagram doesn't 'copy' #Snapchat but 'builds' on it, says CEO #KevinSystromhttps://t.co/qTmZqovUwG pic.twitter.com/iBgfKl8x8v

— Financial Express (@FinancialXpress) May 31, 2017

Systrom then harkened back to the old days when the only car was the Ford Model T. Pointing out that countless vehicle manufacturers have come up with different models since then, but they still all have wheels and windows like the first car.

"The first time you see a product show up somewhere else it feels a lot like copying, but imagine a world where the only car was the Ford Model T," he explained.

This is a sensitive issue for Snapchat, considering that Instagram managed to flip more people into using the feature compared to them. There are reportedly 200 million users who are active customers of Intagram Stories daily compared to Snap’s 166 million.

Rubbing salt to Snapchat’s wound is Facebook’s own decision to roll out a similar feature on its platform, as well as on Messenger and WhatsApp.

Nevertheless, Systrom appears to be skirting the issue since he was quoted once before about Snap’s direct influence on Instagram Stories. In an interview with reporters in August of last year, he was asked point-blank about Snapchat’s similar concept, and he conceded that “they deserve all the credit.”

“This isn’t about who invented something,” he said. “This is about a format, and how you take it to a network and put your own spin on it.”  

Systrom said the practice of building on the technology is not exclusive to Instagram. For instance, Snapchat copied face filters and slideshows from somewhere else. Twitter started hashtags, then Facebook copied it. Similarly, Pixar and Dreamworks are the leaders in computer animation but they are not the same.

While he said Instagram Stories might be similar to Snapchat, they definitely add more value to this sharing feature, which is the reason why more people are actively using it on their platform compared to the competition.

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Enterprise Ecosystems

Plenty has been written about bringing products or services to market. Practices have been developed to manage both direct and indirect sales channels. Literature has been written about product development models versus customer development models. And, the traditional process of creating demand is now very well known.

However, the exponential growth of products, solutions, and applications in the B2B space have created a new type of a sales channel—one that resembles, something we’re all familiar with, an appstore. In fact, leading platforms, like Marketo, have taken notice and built ecosystems and programs to facilitate the discovery of complementary independent software vendors (ISVs) for their customers.

These ecosystems require a fundamental change in how ISVs think about managing sales opportunities. Specifically, some questions an ISV should be able to answer include: How to quantify the opportunity? Do you need a dedicated person to manage the engagement and who should that person be? And, which ecosystems make sense to participate in? But unfortunately, the reality is that many organizations struggle to successfully evaluate and manage the opportunity. This blog will take a look at how you can successfully navigate the galaxy of enterprise ecosystems and choose a partner and an ecosystem that will work for your business. 

Find The Right Partner

The growing number of opportunities—in the form of an appstore, a program or an ecosystem—means that you’re more likely than ever to find one that offers the right product-market fit and therefore helps you promote your product.

As you look for the right partner, it’s important to consider the benefits a program offers and how the platform’s program drives success for its participants. As you evaluate, you’ll find that some programs are backed by a solid plan to help you drive business, while others merely provide affiliate options. Make sure the program you choose has offerings that make sense for your business in its current phase, and as you look toward the future. For example, an early-stage startup may not need the same acceleration options that a later stage startup needs.

After carefully considering those criteria, you’re likely to end up with only a handful of programs to choose from. Ask yourself how many “merchants” are already promoting their merchandise in that ecosystem and its respective program; will you be able to stand out? Or, is this market saturated? Consider the distribution and the growth of the platform’s customer base. Ask yourself if the ecosystem is a known and established place to promote solutions like yours, or if you will standout—either as a refreshing outlier or an odd one. Then, prioritize your options and register for the program where you’d like to publish your solution/product/app listing. You should be able to quickly identify and validate if the right customers are there and will react positively to your product.

Assess The Opportunity 

Many marketers and business development (BD) folks I have met underestimate the opportunity they have in aligning their go-to-market strategy with a large enterprise ecosystem. Most of them will size the opportunity by multiplying the number of customers the enterprise ecosystem is exposed to, with a wishful penetration rate, and their average sales price (ASP). While this calculation can offer a good estimate, it hides some components of revenue that are directly influenced by the ecosystem. By using Little’s Law, you can demonstrate that the revenue contribution of the business is a factor of four elements:

1. The number of sales opportunities at any given time
2. The average contract value
3. The win rate
4. The length of the sales cycle

Let’s look at an example using these four elements: If you typically work on 20 opportunities at a time and you think that participating in an enterprise ecosystem’s program can change it to 25, and if you estimate that your close rate will grow from 20% to 30%, and that the tighter alignment with the platform vendor will help you shave 10 days off your 100 day sales cycle, bringing it down to 90 days, you have just forecasted your business to double.

So, when marketing or BD plans their business, it makes sense for them to identify which of these parameters their participation in an ecosystem program is going to impact and evaluate if the platform vendor has a plan to help them achieve those goals.

The highly focused ecosystems also make a great foundation for your ABM strategy. Enrolling in an app/solution ecosystem should dramatically affect your teams’ ability to focus on a segment of accounts.

Manage The Channel Opportunity

Managing the opportunity an ecosystem provides requires commitment on your end as well as from the enterprise. Don’t just sit back and wait for your business to grow.

On your end, hire a person who can be the general manager of your ecosystem business, and who will ensure that the program gets the right marketing and product support from both sides. Hiring someone who can simply manage the relationship won’t suffice.

From the enterprise ecosystem that you choose, you should expect a solid infrastructure of partner folks, not only in the ecosystem business but also under sales and marketing. Without this infrastructure you will mostly likely interact with partner managers who have good intentions but can’t translate that into making a difference in the field.

Navigate The Partner Galaxy Fearlessly

Undoubtedly, it makes sense for ISVs to take advantage of the programmatic opportunities platform vendors offer to connect and promote complementary solutions to their customer base. While these programs vary by structure, distribution, maturity, and saturation of the ecosystem it’s important to choose one that most benefits the type and phase of your business.

At Marketo, we’re always working to make our Launchpoint ecosystem an optimal experience for not only our customers who are coming to look for technology that offers seamless data integration and platform augmentation, but also for our partners who we are now offering the opportunity to grow their business via a combination of new platform technologies and a growth acceleration program.

Lastly, don’t forget, a towel is the most important item a Hitchhiker can carry.

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Twitter Rolls Out New Chatbot Feature for Businesses

Twitter has introduced a new chatbot feature for companies to promote their brands, and they are hoping that these businesses and their customers stay on the platform for their real-time interactions.

This new platform allows brands to customize the experience for each customer. Interaction between the brands and their customers are initiated using the “Direct Message Card” in their Twitter accounts. Companies can also customize these chatbots through an avatar or video.

The gimmick seems to work as Patron Tequila, one of the companies that first made use of Twitter’s new offering, generated a lot of buzz when it shared what the chatbots can do. The two “bartenders” featured on the Patron account will guide customers on what cocktail to order, as well as any relevant information on the many flavors available.

Consumers can also interact with the brand administrator of the Twitter account if they have some questions. Among the other features of the Twitter chatbots are welcome messages, geotagging, customized profiles, and quick replies.

Twitter is coming in a bit late to the ballgame, however, as chatbots are already being utilized by Facebook and Microsoft via Skype and LinkedIn. Facebook even boasts of having AI-tech for its chatbots because of their speech-to-text and language processing capabilities.

Though it's not clear what Twitter plans to do with its chatbots in the near future, for now, it's deviating from the business models of Facebook and Microsoft. Instead of trying to drive business, the company aims to bring brands and their customers closer together by introducing some levity to the interactions.

Right now, the Twitter chatbots are still in a beta stage and are limited to advertisers. Even so, it's hard to see the bots as more than just a gimmick since they really don't add any significant value other than promotions. However, brands have been asking their customers to share their experience with the bots in order to gauge their appeal.

Twitter also has yet to release details on what exactly their new chatbots are capable of. For instance, it is still unknown if they have some sort of machine learning capabilities, apart from the main input code, or if they recognize patterns while also initiating conversations with customers.

The jury is still out on how brands will accept the new Twitter chatbots, considering the version rolled out by Facebook disappointed users because they found it difficult to navigate, and the interaction wasn’t as engaging.

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Hubcast 140: Consistency, Frequency, Trust and Sailboats

In this episode of the Hubcast, Marcus and George discuss the importance of consistency when producing great content, a featured speaker from Inbound and...

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3 Steps to Building an Employee Advocacy Strategy

I recently had the pleasure of attending one of the biggest marketing conferences of the year—Marketo’s Marketing Nation Summit.  A gathering of hundreds of marketing executives, partners, and thought leaders from around the world came together to learn about the latest marketing trends and strategies in the new “Engagement Economy”.

The “Engagement Economy” represents a clear shift in the way marketers communicate with customers. It focuses on delivering a personalized and authentic experience that stems from trust and commitment. To succeed in this new climate, you must adapt your tactics and shift your brand to become more human and digital native-friendly.

But how can you embrace this new concept? How can you bring it into the present? Simple—with employee advocacy. Employee advocacy allows you to fast forward your social media marketing strategy by empowering employees to share organic content across their personal profiles, in turn, driving brand awareness, engagement, and lead generation. To get started, here are three steps to building a successful employee advocacy strategy:

1. Identify Your Goals and KPI’s

Like with any social media strategy, you need to envision what success looks like. What goals are you trying to achieve? Which metrics will you use to measure those goals?

To make things easier, here are two groups of metrics you can focus on:

• Tactical Metrics: These metrics (also known as early stage metrics) give you a granular insight into the success of individual posts, networks, and employees. It includes impressions, shares, clicks, etc.
• Revenue Metrics: These metrics (also known as mid- and late-stage metrics) play a larger role in giving you an accurate picture of how advocacy drives opportunities and revenue for the business. For example, tracking leads, cost per lead, and closed deals will help you identify the program’s true ROI. For a more complete picture of how advocacy impacts sales, you can integrate your employee advocacy platform with your engagement platform/marketing automation and CRM to see how leads collected by employees turn into revenue by sales.

2. Understand which Content Types will be Shared

The oft-cited “Content is King” saying applies to employee advocacy too. First, your content must align with your goals, and second, it needs to be relevant to your employees’ role in the company and type of audience.

At the very least, it should include the following:

• 70% original content: The bulk of your content should be original—articles, white papers, videos, case studies, webinars, etc. that have been created by your marketing team and are lead generating.
• 20% curated content: Besides promoting our own product or service, employees should receive valuable third-party content to educate their audience in a less self-promotional manner.
• 10% suggested content: The best way to empower employees to share content is by allowing them to suggest useful topics. This will go a long way to demonstrate your appreciation for their work.

3. Select Employee Advocates & Establish Buy-In

While every employee can benefit from participating in an advocacy program, you must determine which employees most effectively deliver your message. Customer-facing employees, particularly in sales, marketing, and customer success, should be your top priority to engage and retain in your advocacy program. And, that’s not to say that your other employees don’t have value—because they do. It’s your goal to ensure your employees remain invested in the program by reiterating the value to them.

There are two ways to incentivize employees. First, through tangible rewards, which have a monetary value, such as gift cards, restaurant vouchers, and movie tickets. The alternative is through intangible rewards, which have a long-term meaning, including:

• Social Selling: Your sales reps are going to benefit the most from being advocates. 78% of salespeople who utilize social media as part of their sales techniques outperformed their non-social peers. The result is that they have a much greater impact on revenue and business growth.
• Thought Leadership: This is an invaluable status to have today. Actively sharing quality content turns employees into a credible and sought-after influencer in the industry. With this trustworthy voice, they have the ability to drive more traffic and leads for you.

Ready, Steady, Go!

The new era of Engagement Economy is here and it’s up to you to make the transition. Today, the smartest B2B marketers are going into the future with a strategy that aligns business goals with a personalized customer experience. A well-planned employee advocacy program can help you make that transformation, from boosting your online brand to driving positive social media ROI.

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How Will AI Affect Project Management in the Future?

Companies are just discovering the potential of AI to unburden project managers, who are already spending too much time on paperwork or management tasks rather than crafting strategies and future plans on the macro level.

The average project managers today have so many responsibilities that it's any wonder they can get things done other than filing and signing documents, making sure everybody follows the schedule, crafting budgets, and other administrative duties.

This routine has been maintained for so long that companies take the delay as par for the course. In public organizations, a large bureaucracy can add to the Gordian knot to the point wherein a project submitted on time is now sometimes greeted with surprise.

According to the Harvard Business Review, over half of the project manager's time is wasted on administrative tasks. In fact, if they have their way, almost nine in 10 of the survey respondents replied that they could benefit from AI support so they wouldn't have to focus so much on administrative tasks.

The good news is that there are already AI tools on the market today that can help project managers unclog their desks. Kono.ai, for example, has an app that can work as an effective smart assistant. The Monte Carlo app, meanwhile, can submit a risk analysis through probabilities. Admittedly, developers are just scratching the surface of what AI can really do for project managers.

Scott Middleton, the CEO of Stratejos, a smart assistant software maker, says that despite skepticism by employees about AI stealing their jobs, the future of machine-learning in relation to business tasks is bright.

“AI isn’t to be feared,” he explained. “It may even be your best team member, especially for project managers. AI for project management is on the rise, and the way things are going, it’s going to help teams make smarter decisions and move faster.”

A survey from software developer Atlassian revealed that more than 70% of those surveyed claimed that half of their tasks can be done by robots or AI tech. Right now, almost 40% believe that they are already utilizing AI in their office.

Middleton predicted that developers—and companies in general—would place more focus on smart assistants for project managers to relieve them of some of their more menial tasks. In the future, the amount of complicated tasks assumed by robots will have increased.

But the AIs of today are severely limited in scope. For instance, they still rely on data collected and input by humans. These robots are not self-updating, nor do they make corrections automatically if they spot a mistake.

That will change in the future, of course.

To allay the fears of middle managers, as well as the rank and file, it seems unlikely that machines will take over whole organizations because they lack the capacity for creative thinking in solving complex problems.

What they do, however, is cut back the amount of errors committed in the implementation of the project until its submission. As the technology advances, they will become invaluable tools in reporting and monitoring.

Instead of project managers defining the scope of the work, assigning tasks to the teams, analyzing the data, adjusting timetables, documenting the process, predicting outcomes, and gauging the risks, these can all be done through machine-learning.

This is the reason why companies are well advised to start thinking about investing in AI as an assistive tool in everyday tasks. In the same vein, instead of being viewed as a threat to human jobs, project managers should teach themselves to better harness today's advances in machine-learning to come up with solutions to their core project problems.

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7 Ways To Boost Your Organic Reach On Facebook

Yes, you’re not imagining it, it’s becoming even harder to get your company Facebook posts seen. Facebook has published some information (via their blog) on their changes in January & May, but savvy observers have noticed changes every month of 2017 so far. We’ve also seen other social networks take steps in the same direction: winnowing down organic posts seen by users to include only the timeliest, most relevant, or those in a preferred format.

What does that mean for a social media marketer? Your organic Facebook posts may be seen ONLY by your hardest-core followers (your most devoted fans) who have a history of reacting to and sharing your content. Here are some Do’s and Don’ts for responding to Facebook’s 2017 algorithm changes and get the best mileage out of your posts:

Do—Try Livestreaming a Video

Among other recent changes, Facebook says it is favoring video in the News Feed. For example, if a user watches all or most of one particular video, they are more likely to see similar videos in their feed. Also, videos now play with sound defaulted to ‘on’, if the device isn’t in silent mode. Maybe this is the right time for you to post more videos and/or try Facebook Live? Maybe stream a discussion or interview with a subject matter expert instead of (or in addition to) writing a blog?

Don’t—Go Live, If You’re Not Truly Live

If you do “Go Live,” it had better be actual live video, not just looping animation or a poll that’s trying to rack up engagement. Facebook has caught on to those tricks and is no longer rewarding them. They’re also cracking down on the use of live video to share violent scenes (to the tune of a few thousand new employees tasked with seeking out and removing such content).

Do—Encourage Employees to Share Your Posts With Their Networks

Facebook says the News Feed favors a user’s family, friends & “core value” content. They tell us those user-generated posts get 7 times more engagement than a typical post from a brand. This could be a great reason to implement or re-energize your employee-advocacy program, where you encourage employees to share your posts. Don’t just stop at Facebook, be sure to include other networks while you’re at it.

Don’t—Trick Users Into Visiting a Website Full of Ads

The Facebook algorithm now actively downgrades sites with little content and “disruptive, shocking, or malicious ads”, typical of fake news sites and click bait posts. So, if your site looks anything like this, it’s time to make a change:

Do—Think Outside The Box & Try To Solicit Reactions Besides “Like”

Reactions OTHER than likes may be better for you. Even an “angry” response is taken as a sign that people are engaging with your content, not just skimming by and clicking ‘like’. Maybe you’ll have success with #FridayFunnies that generate some “Ha Ha” responses. When I noticed a new “thankful” reaction the other day with a flower image, I wondered if we’d start seeing posts on what companies are thankful for, just to take advantage of it. But it seems that option was a short-lived test.

Don’t—Ask For Likes or Shares. EARN Them

Be both relevant & engaging, or at least have a great offer. It’s a twist on the old “if you don’t have anything nice to say …”. It’s better to post a bit less often, but have quality content when you do share it. If followers ignore your posts, that’s not great. But if they hide them because they’re too promotional and not useful, that’s even worse.

Do—Include Your Followers in Relevant Ad Campaigns

To those in a cynical mood, it certainly seems like Facebook is strongly encouraging ads/boosted posts, if not flat-out requiring companies to spend money for distribution that used to be free. If you’re already advertising, it may be worth including your existing followers in your audience targeting. If they engage with your boosted content enough, Facebook may determine that they want to see your organic posts, too.

I hope you find these tips helpful, but they’re just a start. Surely Facebook (and other networks) will continue to evolve how they determine which content gets substantial distribution. We’re in a phase now that will remind some of SEO’s somewhat wild past (e.g. keyword stuffing and thousands of backlinks stopped getting rewarded), so stay tuned for more changes!

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Facebook Offers $250,000 for Original Content, Partners With Buzzfeed and Vox

Social media giant Facebook has started to farm out original content as it linked up with Buzzfeed, Group Nine Media, Vox, and others for its future video service.

Reports revealed that Facebook is planning to roll out two types of video content. First is a 20- to 30-minute episode, where it holds sole proprietary rights. The other is short “unscripted shows,” which will be good for about 10 minutes maximum. The latter will probably be supplied by Buzzfeed, among others.

This is part of Facebook’s plan to push for original videos on its platform. The videos will not be limited to skits and scripted shows, but also sports and game shows as well. In March this year, Mark Zuckerberg and company inked an agreement with Major League Soccer and Univision Deportes to air live football matches via streaming.

According to the alleged proposed business arrangement, Facebook will pay $250,000 for the 30-minute scripted shows because the company will essentially be buying the video. For shorter clips, the company is offering between $10,000 and $35,000, as well as a cut of the ad revenue.

Assuming proprietary rights is the same business model introduced by Netflix and Amazon on their original shows. It’s not clear, however, if Facebook will accept user contribution for videos.

Zuckerberg said late last year that they are pushing for the whole community to utilize the video tab on Facebook. By partnering with Buzzfeed and Vox, the company is clearly targeting millennials.

Earlier this year, Facebook hired Mina Lefevre, former EVP and head of scripted development at MTV, to head its original programming division. She follows the hiring of Ricky Van Veen, formerly of College Humor, who is now the head of global creative strategy.

If this pans out, it will be another potential revenue stream for Facebook as each video content will feature ads during breaks. The company is offering over half of the ad income to its partners. That would be a huge guarantee considering that Facebook users generally ignore proprietary laws in sharing content.

Another advantage for third-party video providers is that they are assured of viewers owing to the immense size of the Facebook community. The social media giant hopes that any qualms about their videos being stolen will be offset by the long-term gains.

To date, Facebook has not yet issued a statement on the report about the social media giant paying third-party providers for videos.

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Microsoft Launches Latest Surface Pro With 13-Hour Battery Life

Microsoft unveiled the new Surface Pro during a recent event in Shanghai, touting faster performance for the gadget on the strength of its seventh-generation Intel Core processor.

These processors, dubbed Kaby Lake, are supposed to be 35% faster than the fourth-generation chips. It's not clear, however, how these new processors will fare compared to the sixth-generation series, or the Skylake, since they are built on the same 14nm architecture. Although some reports claim that the Microsoft Surface Pro will be faster and have a longer battery life.

Microsoft says that there is a 20% improvement in performance for the new Surface Pro compared to its previous iteration. In terms of battery life, user will be able to use it for about 13 hours from a full charge, which is about a 50% improvement from the old device. For comparison, the MacBook Air can only last 12 hours before needing a charge.

At first glance, there seems to have been no changes made to the physical design, although the thinner and lighter new Surface Pro is more rounded and less edgy. The 12.3-inch Pixel Sense touchscreen display has been retained, but it doesn't have a USB-C port, but rather the USB 3.0 Type-A, as well as the patented Surface Connect port. There's also a microSD card slot and a mini DisplayPort.

The biggest change, perhaps, is the kickstand which can now lie almost flat on the table. This modification will come as good news for digital artists.

Microsoft officially reveals new Surface Pro with bigger battery and new Surface Pen https://t.co/TK1s7QsElW pic.twitter.com/9NtdXX88Nu

— TNW (@TheNextWeb) May 23, 2017

 

The new Microsoft Surface Pro starts at $799, with the Surface Pen and the keyboard accessory sold separately. These two accessories are available in platinum, cobalt blue, black and burgundy.

The new stylus is billed to have less input lag, as Microsoft quadrupled the sensitivity from 1024 levels of pressure to 4096. The buyer can also use the same pen as a creation tool on the Surface Dial.

It's interesting to see how the new Surface Pro will impact the sagging laptop industry, which has been spiraling down for the past nine years now. For its part, Microsoft's Surface line fell 26% based on first quarter data against the same period in 2016.

The new Pro joins the growing Microsoft Surface family, including the Surface Book, the Surface Laptop, and the Surface Studio PC. Microsoft Surface Pro will come in three variants, the Core i7, Core i5, and Core M, and will launch in June of this year. Pre-orders will start next week.

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Facebook Gunning for GoFundMe With Expanded Fundraising Tool

Facebook recently shored up its crowdfunding tool to include community donors and sports teams, thereby posing a real challenge to GoFundMe.

The company introduced the tool last March, allowing individuals to donate money for public emergencies, natural disasters, medical bills, education, and funerals. However, that was considered a beta test.

With the latest announcement, users 18 years old and above can make a separate FundMe page where the community can donate. Facebook also expanded the fundraising campaign to include those who need money for sports equipment, for instance, or to build a community garden.

Sorry GoFundMe. Looks like Facebook wants to steal your business, too https://t.co/6WWlcvlotu pic.twitter.com/p8HkzknFTu

— CNET (@CNET) May 24, 2017

The social media giant will vet each page within 24 hours after they are created to make sure they don't violate community standards and that the fundraising is warranted.

Though Facebook’s tool threatens to eat up GoFundMe's community, the company was quick to assure its users that they are not out to make a profit from charity.

"Facebook’s goal is to create a platform for good that’s sustainable over the long-term, and not to make a profit from our charitable giving tools," a statement from the company said.

In order to compete with GoFundMe, Facebook will charge its users a fee of 6.9% in addition to another 30 cents for each fundraising campaign. This fee supposedly goes to processing, background checks, as well as fraud and security protection. Meanwhile, a slightly higher fee of 7.9% plus 30 cents is charged to GoFundMe users for each donation made.

Facebook has never been shy about copying successful business models introduced by other sites in the hope of inviting more users into creating accounts while keeping their current users from leaving once they're logged in.

For instance, Facebook unveiled its Stories feature, an idea it virtually stole from Snapchat (not to mention the Facebook Poke, which could also be attributed to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel). Earlier, it also launched Facebook Places, which it copied from Foursquare. Then it ripped off Twitter by copying the Hashtag feature.

It's not clear whether Facebook will block any GoFundMe link that makes its way to their site. A fundraising campaign initiated by Manchester Evening News on GoFundMe raised money immediately when it was shared on Facebook.

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New Gadget Allows iPhone to Print 'Moving' Pictures

Mobile printing startup Prynt has unveiled their latest gadget that can print colored photos in just 30 seconds, and makes use of augmented reality to produce “moving” pictures.

The gadget is certainly cool, but don't expect to get high-quality images. The printing quality of the gadget is reportedly pedestrian and doesn't even match up to photos from Polariod. However, the faster printing speed, easy functionality, as well as better connectivity to iPhones, make it a good buy compared to most Bluetooth mobile printers.

Here's how it works: when the users choose an image from their iPhone to print, the application will upload a clip from the Live Photo—or the Boomerang app from Instagram—to the cloud. After they scan the static image using the Prynt app, the video will be superimposed on top.

Prynt co-founder Clément Perrot said, "It's the best of both worlds. You get something that is tangible, unique, but you also have a sense of the context of what happened at that time."

"Here's a way to capture all of that and put it into something that people would look back at. If it stays on their phone, you don't necessarily look at it again," he added.

A mobile printer is not exactly new, considering that Polaroid has its own Insta-film technology, apart from its own mobile photo printer. HP also has the Sprocket (which sells for about $130).

Perrot hopes that the new technology will encourage people to print their most precious photos. While the convenience of camera phones allows people to take as many pictures as they want, they rarely go through the photos after uploading them on social media. In most instances, they just delete the photos after sharing them on Facebook or Instagram.

Perrot stated that this is what Prynt is trying to fill with its mobile printer. The nostalgia that physical photos possess, where “you can touch something and go back to it.”

For now, the Prynt app is only available for the iPhone. However, an app dedicated for Android will be launched later this year. The app uses inkless paper from Zink, which can be activated using heat.

The Prynt pocket printer sells for $138 on Amazon. Users will have to buy another pack for the sheets of paper to be fed into the device. One pack with 40 sheets will cost $20.

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What Does Your Desk Say About Your Marketing Style?

Did you know that your desk could be saying a lot more than you think?  Not to be judgy, but whether or not you have considered your workspace and how it reflects your marketing style, your co-workers have.

Often the first place coworkers tend to look to get a general perception of who you are and your skills is your desk. As a Marketo Business Consultant, I see many marketer’s desks when I visit with customers.We know that marketing professionals are busy and pulled in multiple directions. So, when we see a workspace that looks, well, ‘worked,’ we tend to smile. It’s not so much the tidiness factor, but what you’re projecting to your team and whether that image will help you build upon your fundamental marketing skills. In fact, the article, “Clean Your Messy Desk, Lest Ye Be Judged,” reported that almost 60% of people had judged a co-worker based on their desk. Noting that a clean desk conveyed ‘accomplishment’ while a disorganized workspace implied ‘an out of order life.’  Positive or negative, your co-workers could be (read: are) analyzing your work based on your desk.

Marketing teams are made up of an array of diverse talents. So whether you’re a creative, an analyzer, or an intellect, it’s important that the skills you bring to the table and your personality are reflected, visually displayed, and nurtured by your workspace. So given that people are making assumptions about your personality and work style based on your desk, how can you use your desk to really reflect your personality and represent the skills you possess? In this blog, we’ll take a look at three workspace styles that I’ve seen, what they say about you, and the kind of work they are most likely to inspire.

Organized Chaos

A famous example of what a workspace says about a person occurred when Einstein passed away on April 18, 1955. Journalists immediately made their way to the Princeton Hospital, but one photographer split off from the pack and made history. Ralph Morse side-stepped the crowd at Einstein’s office at the Institute for Advanced Studies and snapped, what is now, an iconic picture. In the famous photo of Einstein’s office, there’s not an inch of desk peeking through the papers and books, and he liked it that way.

Photo credit: Ralph Morse/Time

Einstein’s office had a reputation that preceded itself. His desk was judged as ‘messy.’ His response was simple: “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?”

As one of the greatest minds we have known, Einstein was a creative and a creator. Like many modern marketers, it’s common to find that the creative-types have desks or offices that reflect their fast-paced environments and minds. While it’s easy for others to judge based on the (organized) chaos, psychologist Kathleen Vohs, from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, wanted to see what the typical reaction was to a little bit of chaos.

In her study, Vohs placed people in either a tidy or a messy room in order to determine if their environment affected the choices and decisions they made. The results were surprising, the people who were surrounded by tidiness chose things that were ‘classic’ or ‘conventional.’ While the other half, surrounded by messiness, made decisions based on novelty, and looked for the ‘new’ or ‘innovative’ option. In conclusion, messiness has value. The study demonstrated that mess or chaos does increase creativity and maybe, encourage a bit of rebellion against the norm.

A little chaos can go a long way. It can help us reflect on our creative side and uniqueness rather than conformity, which is good for marketers. Finding inspiration in a little disorder is a marketing style that conveys you’re innovative.

So when it comes to your workspace, it’s all about cultivating what makes you unique as a marketer. If you prefer a workspace that encourages creativity, then try adding inspirational objects to spark your creative side. Even if it’s not your norm, or comfort zone, you could try to create a space that will help foster the traits you want to cultivate. For example, you could prop up your favorite book on your desk, or a word puzzle or game that is inspiring.

Neat as a Pin

We all know a marketer who has a desk that should be in a magazine. Everything is perfectly placed as if they are always ready for a photo opp. They probably take inspiration from Mary Kay Ash, the president of Mary Kay cosmetics. A famous example of a clean workspace was Mary Kay’s home office in Dallas, Texas on New Year’s day in 1982.

Photo credit: Associated Press

In the picture, Mary Kay rests on one elbow with a phone glued to her ear while intensely working. Her surroundings are calm with a neatly stacked calendar, a cup of pens, and even a place for paper clips. Being coined as a master marketer in her industry, Mary Kay had an image to uphold. Photos of her in action are examples of how life and work can reflect one another.

If you’re customer facing, like Mary Kay, tidiness can help you project your productivity and ambition. Some offices have mandated a ‘clean desk policy’ to ensure people clean their spaces, believing a clean workspace reflects ‘professionalism’ and ‘competence.’

A tidy workspace can help you stay ahead of the game. There is something to be said for a marketer that knows where everything is and can provide resources in a blink of an eye. To accomplish this, you could have an organizational strategy to help you stay productive. For example, you could use file folders for daily tasks, sticky notes, or a whiteboard to keep your workspace clear of clutter. Having a workspace set up for success conveys that you’re ready for every marketing opportunity and challenge.

To improve your already professional demeanor and workspace, you could spend less than five minutes each day straightening their desk before you head out. Putting dirty cups in the break room, wiping down spills, and throwing away trash. That way you can keep your desk organized and looking sharp. It’s then a workspace that conveys you’re ready for anything, no matter how your day unfolds.

Professional Disruptor

There’s a new kid on the block. The marketer who performs in highly agile work environments, disrupts the norm, and spends most of their time working. Sound familiar? It should because most of the desks we’ve bumped into as consultants are designed for these types of workspaces. The professional disruptors are easily recognizable as the ‘middle of the road’ between organized chaos and neat as a pin.

For inspiration, we look no further than Mark Zuckerberg. Many photos taken of him in action show an office that is what you’d expect from a busy business tycoon. While it’s not as chaotic as Einstein and not as immaculate as Mary Kay, it does show a style that is more focused on work rather than status or control and order.

Mark Zuckerberg: tumblr.com

In one photo of Zuckerberg’s workspace, it shows a desk that has wires coming out of every direction, a cereal box, and a half-drunk bottle of soda as he intensely works on a laptop. So this sounds like, at least for me, it could be most of our desks after a long day at the office—right?

With this style of desk, a marketer can get the best of both worlds. They get to surround themselves with things that inspire them and spark their creativity and they have some sense of organization, which allows them to know where everything is and be able to gather it in a flash.

To achieve a marketing style like this, you can pick a day to organize, most likely the end of the week. Then throughout the week, you can leave everything where it is and focus on your tasks and projects instead. You can express your marketing style as innovative while still conveying professionalism through your workspace by keeping everything where it needs to be and adding one of two things that make you feel inspired.

Your Style Can Be Flexible—Choose What Works For You

To wrap up, it makes sense to stick with the style that aligns most with your talents and displays them to your team. It’s about being clear about who you are and what you bring to the table. Though if you want to try a different style to nurture new skills, by all means, forge ahead—there are definitely benefits to each type.

If you’re making a change, start small at first. If you have a clean workspace and want a little more inspiration, try adding a few distinct pieces that encourage your creativity. Or if you typically operate in an organized chaos space and want to project more professionalism through your workspace, try tidying up a bit each day. You can always take the middle of the road and focus on your work and less on your workspace throughout the week.

Ultimately, your work—marketing—should always come first. The goal is to create a space that demonstrates and reinforces what a stellar marketer you are. Look around the office and take note of the top three workspaces: organized chaos, neat as a pin, and professional disruptor. What style do you think helps foster your marketing?

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1 Awesome Way To Create Great Content

Whether you’re fresh on the job— getting the lay of the land, or you’re a veteran at your organization, as a content marketer you probably face the constant challenge of delivering interesting, valuable, and relevant content at the pace that your organization demands. And while part of that problem can be solved with a bit of internal education around delivering value over volume, some of the need for fresh content will still exist.

There are many different ways to create the content you need in order to publish at the cadence that your audience and organization requires—freelancers, repurposing assets, and curation, just to name a few. But this blog will cover one incredibly productive content source that will not only help you provide value to your audience, and hit your objectives by publishing at the pace you need but will help shine a spotlight on content internally at your organization. That source? Your own employees. 

Why Create A Guest Blogging Program?

As a content marketer at Marketo, I’m responsible for making sure a blog goes live five days a week that is informative, entertaining and offers value to our audience (based on a detailed matrix of topics and audiences). As a lean team, doing this alone is an impossible task and, quite frankly, sounds scary. And that’s a feeling that it seems other marketers also have, because one of the most frequent questions I get asked when I am at an event, talking to a prospect or customer, or speaking is, “How do you scale your content?” Consistently, my answer is to be savvy about the resources you have at your disposal. Similar to repurposing content, I invite other marketers to ask themselves, “how can you get the most out of what you do have instead of focusing on what you don’t?”

One of the best ways to get the most out of the resources at your disposal is to broaden your view of what counts as a resource. If your resources are limited to already published blogs, and other assets (like whitepapers, ebooks, datasheets, and infographics), you can definitely find ways to create new content by repurposing, which will help you produce a few more pieces of content. But, if you shift your focus to include your human resources—across the organization—you have successfully found a content jackpot. Think about it for a second. If you have 1,000 employees and you are able to get even 1% of them (10 people) to blog for you, you’re already ahead of the game (vs. repurposing). If those authors, or even half of them, write a second post, you will have knocked it out of the park.

Build Your Program

Ok, so let’s talk about how you actually make this happen. Guest content, specifically guest blogs, sounds amazing until you consider that you’re going to have to do the editing. To prevent a guest blogging program from descending into unmanageable chaos, you’re going to want to start with a few foundational elements:

• Content Style Guide: Your content style guide, or style guide, usually spans all content created for your brand, whether that’s technical documentation, public-facing copy, or sales training. It will include everything from capitalization and hyphenation (is it Internet or internet?), to your boilerplate, personas, and brand voice/tone guidelines.
• Program Guidelines: Program guidelines detail how your program specifically works. If an employee is interested, what do they have to do to get started? Document your workflow for internal submissions, reviews, feedback, and publication. Clear expectations that are established early make everyone more successful.
• Executive Buy-In: Never underestimate the power of executive buy-in. In fact, for a program that you want to span your whole organization and stand the test of time, you need an executive who not only believes in your idea but will champion it at the executive level. Change needs to happen from both the top down and the bottom up. Ask you sponsor to socialize the program with their peers. More specifically,  if you can, have your sponsor ask their peers to give their teams time to participate and positively recognize those that participate.

Just to recap., don’t launch your program without those three elements in place. They. Are. Critical.

Once you have the foundation of your program, it’s time to add some important details. You will want your program guidelines to not only include the editiorial expectations like I covered above, but the rewards (who doesn’t love a prize?), resources to get started, and examples. Basically, your program guidelines, whether they are on an internal wiki, a landing page, in an ebook, or part of an internally shareable slide deck, need to tell your audience what’s in it for them, how they can get started, what to expect, and the expectations. Here’s a deeper look at some of the elements you may want to include:

• Rewards: A reward doesn’t always have to be monetary, but, let’s be honest, cash doesn’t hurt. What I’ve found to be successful is a combination of prizes like gift cards and electronics for different levels of submissions in addition to sharing the career benefits. That way, not only does your contributor get a physical reward, but they are building their personal brand. Worried about the cost of prizes? You get to set the reward amounts—so do what works for your budget. If you have to argue for budget to fund the prizes, share an example that uses how much it costs for a freelancer to write an article vs. an internal article, and that outsourced article also doesn’t have built-in brand/product knowledge, or build loyalty in your employee base.
• Resources: Writing can be incredibly scary for someone who doesn’t do it as a core part of their job, day in and day out. Give your participants resources on how to get started. Think about what you could offer that would remove some of the barriers to participation. For example, are you available for “office hours” to coach them once a week? Do you have a blog template that you can share?
• Examples: As much as you can explain what you’re looking for and how your participants can get there, not much can beat an example. Here are a couple types of examples that you can share: do you have an ideal blog that you can share with your participants with notes about what makes it work? Or, can you share other blogs, either in your industry or out of it that capture the tone or topic range that you’re looking for?

Launch Your Guest Blogging Program

So you created an awesome program that’s going to generate a crazy-amazing amount of content for your organization, but that’s only true if you share your program with your organization and get people excited. At this stage, you will want to come up with a launch plan. Launch plans will be unique to each organization, but you may want to consider some of these activities to launch it.

• Communication from your executive sponsor to the organization announcing the program and encouraging people to join (could be an email, an all-hands mention, etc.)
• Incorporating it into your Employee Advocacy program. If you already have a channel that rewards employees for engaging with and sharing company news and announcements, make sure you’re sharing your program there.
• Internal Wiki. If you have an internal site that your company uses to share information, it probably makes sense to post your program guidelines or at least a link to them.
• Food. Let’s face it, people love donuts, pizza, coffee, boba…[insert name of delicious snack here]. Use food, specifically a meal, to launch your program to a captive audience (because you bribed them with food).
• Signage. Sure, a plain, old-fashioned poster or even flyer is not super trendy, but in the context of an office environment, they work. Think about where people would take a moment to read something—by the coffee, maybe on the bathroom mirror—and leave a flyer there with a few details and a memorable short URL or chat channel for them to learn more.

Effectively launching your program internally has many variations and ultimately you need to understand your audience, and company culture and craft a launch strategy that will get people engaged and keep them engaged.

Make Your Blogging Program Sustainable

Launching your program is just the beginning! The real key to success is to make this program sustainable. There are a few things you can do to ensure it’s ongoing success, like:

• Incorporate it into new-hire training: New hire training/onboarding today is more than figuring out your health insurance and getting an office tour. Many organizations provide a good amount of information in new hire training and go over things like their social media policy, products, and social events. Talk your HR team to see how you can get your program incorporated into the onboarding process.
• Reward internal referrals: If you have bloggers who act as program advocates for you by sharing the program with others in the organization, formally or informally, reward them! This word-of-mouth recruitment will not only help you by delivering more content, but it will probably help save time because your advocate is likely to coach their referral toward success.
• Thank your top bloggers: Of course you’re already rewarding your bloggers, but there are always going to be a few that go above and beyond. How can you thank them publicly? Think about what motivates them and what makes sense for your organization. Maybe it’s a shout-out from their boss, or from your boss, or it might be a certificate you create that they can add to their LinkedIn profile.

I hope that this gave you some good ideas to go mine a new content source, or if you are already having employees blog, to create a program that’s more robust and scalable. This method could work for more than blogs, so don’t be afraid to brand out. Are you running a content submission program at your organization? I’d love to hear what’s working and not working in the comments below.

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Nokia 9 Smartphone: Leaked Promo Video Confirms Specs!

Images of the new Nokia 9 have been leaked online, which teases the first high-end phone from HMD Global. It’s not yet clear if this leak is “accidental,” but it did create hype for the new Android phone from Nokia.

The phone itself was encased in a thick blue screen, which some tech news sites agree covered much of the details of the boxy gadget. However, some of the images do lend credence to earlier speculations that it will come with dual 13-megapixel cameras, 4K recording, as well as LED flash.

There seems to be a USB-C port at the bottom of the gadget and a 3.5mm headphone jack, which seems to indicate that the Nokia 9 won’t be competing against the newer iPhones in that regard.

Underneath, the phone will have a 5.3-inch, 2560 x 1440-pixel QHD display, with 4GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage. The Nokia 9 will allegedly be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and will run on Android 7.1.1.

New Nokia 9 leaks reveal stunning hardware fhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2017/05/22/hmd-nokia9-leak-pictures-images/#7263113b5ac3 pic.twitter.com/U04rdM5ec1

— Forbes Tech News (@ForbesTech) May 22, 2017

There is also a fingerprint sensor at the front of the phone, while the design suggests a thick bezel. The design itself has failed to impress, but this is still a prototype, so it’s unfair to judge the Nokia 9 based on unofficial images.

This is not Nokia’s first foray into Android phones since Microsoft sold the brand to HMD Global and Foxconn late last year. In January this year, HMD released Nokia 6, which boasts a 1.1GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor mated to 3GB of RAM and sold for about $250.

HMD already released Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and the new iteration for the Nokia 3310. Based on its schedule, Nokia 7, Nokia 8 and Nokia 9 will likely be released this year. In fact, a video of what seemed to be an ad for Nokia 8 was also leaked. Reportedly, the ad was taken down immediately, but not before it was saved by users.

It is still unclear how the Nokia 9 will match up to the Samsung Galaxy S8 or the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7+ because the specs for this new phone are not out yet. Between now and its release, there might also be additional features that will be added by the company’s engineers to show to the world that Nokia, indeed, is back.

HMD has not issued any statement regarding the Nokia 9 leak.

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5 Ways To Make Your Social Media Shine at Your Next Event

Social media is invaluable when it comes to driving conversations and awareness around your event. It can also help you keep tabs on sentiment, what’s resonating with attendees, and provide a unique way to engage in real time. But creating an event experience is no easy feat. We recently hosted our annual marketing event, Marketing Nation Summit, and I thought I’d share five key takeaways and best practices I learned from planning and running the social media for the event.

1. Create a Solid Social Media Strategy

First, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the business priorities for the event. From there, you can coordinate within your organization to ensure your strategy aligns with those priorities. Here are a few key things to consider:

• Create a calendar. This should be a timeline that outlines all promotions and announcements happening during the event so you’re clear on when to start promotions.
• Outline which social channels you’ll use. Think about the who, what, when, and where you’ll be during the event. Some channel features will lend to different occasions at your event. For example, creating an Instagram Story throughout the day will showcase visual highlights, while posts on Twitter will highlight quotes or learnings from guest speakers. Have a thorough understanding of your audience’s preferences and then plan on posting to the social channels they utilize and prefer.
• Know the message. Announcing a new product? Be sure you have the updated product messaging so you’re in alignment with the public announcement.
• Have a plan for giving some social love to all your audiences.
  • Incorporate a way to highlight champions and advocates that are attending the event. They are your advocates all year round and events provide a way for you to show gratitude for all they do throughout the year!
  • Keep a pulse on press and analyst content so you can promote whatever positive publications they’re producing, and if not positive, can alert your PR team.
  • Coordinate social coverage of speakers and influencers to ensure you have ample coverage of breakout sessions and live interviews. Do you plan to have team members staffing the breakout sessions? Ask them to capture a few tweetable takeaways and pics for you.
  • Ensure your sponsors feel the love. Take time to highlight your event sponsors. Without them, there wouldn’t even be an event.
• Be clear on legal requirements. This is especially important for speakers, specifically keynote speakers. Most celebrities will have parameters around what can and can’t be covered on social media in their contracts. In order to avoid any breaches, have a clear understanding of what you can post.

2. Create An Officially Branded Hashtag

Have a branded hashtag—make it simple, and make it memorable. You want to create social buzz around your event, so make it as easy as possible for attendees to know (and therefore, use) your event hashtag. A couple of ways to promote your hashtag?

• Use the event hashtag across all of your social accounts leading up to your event.
• Include your hashtag when posting anything during the event.
• Ensure it’s in all your communications and visual content including your event website, promotional emails, print materials, etc.
• Make it visible to participants throughout the conference by including it on all presenter PowerPoint templates, social feeds, visual branding, handouts, etc.

Marketo’s branded hashtag trending on Twitter

3. Make Social Part of The Conversation

Build out a social engagement experience that invites attendees to share their experiences via their personal social channels. A few easy ways to make social an integral part of your event?

• Include a social feed that displays on the presentation screens in breakout session rooms. Seeing what other people are talking about invites attendees to join in on the social and share their own point of view.

Example of live social feed next to keynote stage

• Build a “Social Hub” area that showcases conversations, leaderboards, pictures, and demographics of attendee social posts. It’s a great way to visually tell your story throughout the event.

Marketo’s social hub became a gathering spot and highlighted social activity              

• Live tweet as much as possible. Most events host several sessions at the same time, so attendees are unable to catch every session they wanted to. Live tweeting provides a way for attendees (and non-attendees) to still get a few top-level takeaways. Create a calendar that outlines breakout sessions, speakers, and topics so you know where you need to be to get the most bang for your buck.
• Reply to and engage with your attendees. It’s important for the brand hosting the event to acknowledge its attendees through liking, replying, and sharing. Acknowledgment not only shows appreciation for the individual contributions, it encourages others to engage.
• Monitor your social feeds to ensure you’re able to answer any questions (or direct their question to the right person) attendees may have.

4. Have A Plan For Negative Feedback

Everyone hopes their event will go off without a hitch, but if that’s not the case, it’s a good idea to have a plan in place for complaints. A few things to think about:

• When addressing complaints on social, it’s always best to acknowledge and thank whoever brought the issue to your attention. Then, inform them that you’ll address the issue quickly. If you’re unable to get it resolved immediately, keep them updated on your progress.
• Have an on-site support team you can call on if it’s an issue that needs to be handled in-person.
• Take the time to address each complaint individually. They took the time to air their grievance, you can take the time let them know you heard it and will do whatever you can to resolve it.

5. Tell Your Brand Story Visually.

Events can be a great place to highlight visual content, so you’ll want to incorporate a strategy that includes capturing visual content as well as written content. Here’s are some fun ways to engage visually:

• Give your followers a behind-the-scenes look by sharing backstage pics and video. This is a great way to show them something they wouldn’t otherwise see.
• Create quotation templates that capture speaker quotes. This can be challenging to create on the fly, but people engage at much higher rates with visually compelling posts than they do with simple text quotes.
• Plan on livestreaming. Events provide the perfect venue for you to interview subject matter experts, influencers, customers, and partners. With everyone in one place, you have a unique opportunity to create face to face, real-time content. All you have to do is sit down and hit the “Go Live” button.

 

Marketo & LinkedIn Livestream at the show

• Utilize the different social platforms to highlight your event in several ways. Create Stories on Instagram and Snapchat, an album on Facebook, or a Moment on Twitter. Create unique Snapchat geofilters to highlight your event. Use unique apps like Boomerang and Layout to create fun collages and gifs.

Snapchat geofilters that ran during Marketing Nation Summit

Ultimately social is a huge part of how people experience the world today, and it’s no different for your event. Even more importantly, sharing your event socially invites people who weren’t able to attend in, and gives them a glimpse of the learning, excitement, and story you are trying to build.  Do you have any event social media best practices to share? I’d love to hear them in the comments below.

 

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5 Ways Data Visualization Benefits Your Business in 2017

The challenge for businesses is how to interpret and break down big data in a manner that is easily understandable not just from top to bottom of the organization, but also for their clients as well. This is where data visualization comes in.

The internet—or at least Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon—hold about 1,200 petabytes, or about 1.2 million terabytes, of data. There is no way human beings can process this amount of information without breaking them up into cute visual presentations that will explain the small and big picture.

There are actually data visualization software apps available on the market today that automatically interpret, find patterns, cross-match results, and provide context. This gives businesses a macro and micro view of the situation so they can make changes accordingly.

Below are some of the benefits of employing data visualization for your organization:

1. Optimizes Performance

People process information more quickly through visual presentation. All of your sales, performance benchmarks, and analytics can be arranged in interactive maps, which can easily be interpreted even by your customers.

This is certainly better than giving your rank and file a thick book with a ton of numbers in Word or Excel format. These software applications have the capability to pinpoint weaknesses in the workflow that may affect day-to-day operations. Client demographic and marketing statistics are laid out in easy-to-understand graph, chart, cartogram, geospatial, or histogram format. Using these visuals, you can easily determine dips and highs in your performance over the past weeks, months, or even years.

2. More Comprehensive Report

Since the dawn of time, civilization has processed its environment through the senses, particularly the eyes. Presenting relevant company data through data visualization will give everybody a more comprehensive picture of the company's present situation against its goals. It also prevents redundant tasks, as personnel can immediately see if a specific task has already been accomplished or not.

Some companies even allow those in the frontlines to make changes in the data based on the information they cull from the field. This includes updating old data, correcting erroneous stat, and others.

3. You Can Optimize the Potential of Visual Learners

The University of Alabama in Birmingham says more than six out of 10 people in the U.S. are considered visual learners. It has been proven in studies that people have different learning styles. Some people learn better while listening, others perform better through reading, while a majority prefer to see data in the form of visuals. With over half of the population being visual learners, the only way to optimize their capabilities is through data visualization.

4. Communicates Core Message Better

Among the videos that went viral in 2016 were commercial ads from Nike, Samsung, and Shell. This underscores the importance of visuals for companies to drive home a point. The use of data visualization will only see more positive changes in the years to come. Blue chip corporations already have their entire IT department devoted to making use of the technological advancements to promote the brand through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat.

5. Real-Time Updating of Data

Unlike weekly, monthly, or quarterly business reports, data visualization software allows synchronization of your data with real-time updates. You no longer have to base your decision on old metrics when new numbers are constantly coming in. For instance, if your office in Seattle is struggling, you can immediately study whatever statistics are at your disposal to find the reason why. You can implement solutions immediately and address the problem before it becomes worse.  

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